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Russia presses demands, and faces pressure, as Ukraine talks move to Geneva

High casualties and economic trouble signal time is no longer on Russia’s side, but Moscow isn’t backing off political and territorial demands to weaken Ukraine. Updated  February 17, 2026   Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Munich Security Conference last week. (Johannes Simon/Getty Images) By Catherine Belton, The Washington Post Talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States in Geneva were set to enter a second day after Moscow ratcheted up the pressure on Kyiv to accept a peace deal on the Kremlin’s terms and launched another massive missile and drone strike targeting Ukraine’s energy and critical infrastructure overnight. The first day of talks in Switzerland ended without any significant developments Tuesday. But analysts say the Kremlin is intent on forcing Kyiv to bow to its demands, even though time no longer appears to be on Moscow’s side as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nears its four-year anniversary. The Russian economy is faltering...
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From Quora: Russia Wants to Negotiate

Another Point of View  ·  Follow Posted by Brent Cooper   3y Russia Wants to Negotiate As expected:  Russia is looking for negotiations to commence to put an end to its ill-fated war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (above) discussed  the possibility of negotiations between Russia and the West during an interview on Russian state television RIA Novosti reported Saturday. He said Russia is "always ready to listen to our Western colleagues if they make another request to organize a conversation." He named two conditions the West would need to agree to for negotiations to be successful. Lavrov said the West would need to "fully take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and its security."  Russia, for years, has raised concerns about the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which the Kremlin views as a threat to its security interests. Putin would likely demand Ukraine's neutrality during negotiations. Througho...
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Striking 2,000-year-old mummy portrait sells for $889,000

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By Jacqui Palumbo Updated Feb 6, 2026 Detail of a Fayum funerary portrait that will go up for sale at Sotheby's New York as part of its Old Masters sales.   Courtesy Sotheby's  A funerary portrait from Roman Egypt, featuring a strikingly modern-looking male subject with piercing hazel eyes and graying hair, sold for more than double its high estimate on Thursday during Sotheby’s  Masters Week  sales in New York.
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From Quora Digest

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From Quora Digest Ukraine News(Euroasia)  ·  Follow Posted by  Pavlo Usov   2y Russian air force suffers worst losses since start of war. The Russian air force  suffered its worst day of losses in 14 months on Saturday after two fighter jets and two helicopters crashed in mysterious circumstances. In the absence of an official explanation for the crashes, aviation analysts and Russian military bloggers speculated that they had either been brought down by friendly fire or Ukrainian air defences or shot out of the sky in an aviation ambush laid by Ukraine. Some commentators even suggested the  warplanes could have crashed as a result of sabotage .Moscow-based  Kommersant  newspaper reported that all four aircraft had been part of a coordinated attack on Ukraine. “The fighters were supposed to deliver a missile and bomb attack on targets in the Chernihiv region of Ukraine, and the helicopters were to back them up, picking up the Sukhoi crews if ...
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Russian ‘Village of Military Valor’ Waits for Its Reward

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Sedanka has only 250 residents, but dozens of its men left for the front. It is wondering whether recognition that the government promised will ever arrive. Horses are among the animals that roam freely and drink from puddles of sewage water that back up on the dirt streets of the remote Russian village of Sedanka, in the Far East. Credit... Svetlana Zakharova By  Neil MacFarquhar  and  Milana Mazaeva The New York Times , Feb. 16, 2026 Updated  11:36 a.m. E T Amid the majestic volcanoes and enchanted emerald forests of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia’s remote Far East, near Alaska, both residents and visitors describe the Indigenous hamlet of Sedanka as remarkably squalid. Its housing stock, leftover from Soviet times, is gradually collapsing, with leaky roofs and odorous patches of mold resembling mushrooms sprouting from interior walls. Most dwellings lack running water, while blocked sewage lines feed puddles on dirt streets. Bears and other animals rummage thro...
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